Simon Paul Berry, (born in 1970) known by his alias Art of Trance, is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from Electronic body music, EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between ...

DJ. Berry is also known as Poltergeist or Vicious Circles, and has been a member of the trance groups Clanger, Conscious and

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

. He has been producing and remixing music since 1993. In addition to his work as an artist, Berry was the founder and head of

Platipus Records Platipus Records was a British trance music record label that was based in London, England. It was founded in 1993 by Simon Berry, and early releases included Union Jack (band), Union Jack and Art of Trance. Later, the label included artists ...

, based in London. Initially his label only released his own tracks. His work was first distributed on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

and

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

and then

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

only from 2011.

Career

On 15 June 2002, his track "Madagascar" reached number one on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synth-pop) in record stores ...

. His work has charted in United Kingdom eight times as Art of Trance and the first time with "Vicious Circles" under the alias Poltergeist in 1996. Berry has remixed a number of tracks for other electronic musicians, including Quietman,

Moogwai François Chabloz, known profesionally as Chab, is a Swiss trance music record producer and remixer . Known for his progressive trance style, Chabloz has an extensive history as a remixer and he has also released original material under the mon ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Matt Darey Matthew Jonathan Darey (born 29 November 1968) is an English trance music producer and performer. Darey has sold over two million albums and singles with numerous top 40 chart hits. Music career Darey was born in Leicester, England. Some of his ...

Steve Jablonsky Steve Jablonsky (born October 9, 1970) is an American composer for film, television, and video games, best known for his musical scores in the ''Transformers'' film series, ''Desperate Housewives'', and '' The Sims 3''. Some of his frequent col ...

and

Anthony Pappa Anthony Pappa (born 15 November 1973) is an Australian DJ and electronic music producer from Melbourne. Early life Pappa was born in Italy but was raised in Melbourne, Australia where he attended Marcellin College. At the age of four he got his ...

. A remix of

Yello Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983. Their sound is often charac ...

's "Vicious Games" from the 1985

Stella Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Films * ''Stella'' (1921 film), directed by Edwin J. Collins * ''Stella'' (1943 film), with Zully Moreno * ''Stella'' (1950 film), with Ann Sheridan and Victor Mature * ''Stella'' (1955 ...

album, charted in 1999. In 2003, he re-recorded a new version of

Jan Johnston Jan Johnston (born 13 October 1968, Salford, England) is an English professional singer & songwriter, best known for collaborating with some of the world's top trance music DJs and producers. Career In the early 1990s, she was signed to Colu ...

's "Calling your name" that charted at #80. His tracks appear on mixed compilations such as '' Tranceport 2'', '' Global Underground 017: London'', ''

Upfront Trance ''Upfront Trance'' is a double album from DJ Matt Darey which was released in 2005. The two- CD album consists of two DJ sets performed by Darey. Track listing Disc one # Smith & Pledger – "Forever (Aspekt Mix)" – 7:42 # Yilmaz Altanha ...

'', '' Magik Three: Far from Earth'', ''

Oakenfold Anthems Oakenfold Anthems is a compilation DJ mix album by British electronic producer and disc jockey Paul Oakenfold, released in 2008 on WMTV. His eighteenth mix album, the album is a triple album containing popular electronic singles, mostly focus ...

'', ''

Beyond Euphoria ''Euphoria'' is a series of dance music compilations that debuted on the Telstar Records label in early 1999. During the first year, ''Euphoria'' focused primarily on trance music until mid-2000 when ''Euphoria'' released the first chill-out a ...

'', ''

Ibiza Euphoria Ibiza (; ; ; see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands in are ...

'' and '' Classic Euphoria''. Berry's music has been remixed by artists including

Ferry Corsten Ferry Corsten OON (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moonman, Pulp Victim an ...

Cygnus X Cygnus X may refer to: * Cygnus-X (star complex), a giant star formation region * Cygnus X (music group) See also

* Cygnus X-1 (disambiguation) * Cygnus X-3 {{Dab ...

, Perfect Stranger,

Mike Dierickx Mike Dierickx (born Dirk Dierickx on 20 February 1973), most commonly recognized under the aliases Push or M.I.K.E. Push, is a Belgian DJ and producer. Best known for the song " Universal Nation", he has also released other club singles inclu ...

Michael Woods Michael Woods may refer to: *Michael Woods (Australian politician) (1857–1934), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly *Michael Woods (comics), American writer/editor of comic books *Michael Woods (cyclist) (born 1986), Canadian cyclist *M ...

Telefon Tel Aviv Telefon Tel Aviv is an American electronic music act formed in 1999 by musicians Charles Cooper and Joshua Eustis. Since Cooper's accidental death in 2009, Telefon Tel Aviv has continued with Eustis as the sole official member. History Telefon ...

and Gai Barone. Art of Trance performs at various international music festivals and parties. He was credited for the release to a wider audience of the single "

Children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

" by

Robert Miles Roberto Concina (; 3 November 1969 – 9 May 2017), known professionally as Robert Miles, was an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ. His 1995 composition "Children" sold more than 5 million copies and topped the charts worldwid ...

after its initial release failed to chart.

Production

Berry's music has been described variously as

progressive trance Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from Electronic body music, EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between ...

psychedelic trance Psychedelic trance, psytrance, or psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full ...

acid trance Acid trance is a genre of trance music that emerged in the late 1980s, focusing on using the acid sound. The trademark sound of "acid" is produced with a Roland TB-303 by playing a sequenced melody while altering the instrument's filter cutoff f ...

and

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

. During the 1990s, Berry's music production was focused on his wide array of

analog synthesizer An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses Analogue electronics, analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a var ...

s. From 2005 on-wards, his work space shifted to the computer. His current hardware includes an Analogue Solutions Nyborg 12, Modal 008, Alesis Andromeda A6, Abstrakt Instruments Avalon and a Moog Sub 37. He uses

Logic Pro Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software devel ...

and

Reaktor Reaktor is a graphical modular software music studio developed by Stephan Schmidt and Volker Hinz as founders of Native Instruments (NI). It allows musicians and sound specialists to design and build their own instruments, samplers, effects a ...

with a range of plugins. Art of Trance is well known for the usage of samples of natural sounds (or electronically produced imitations of natural sounds) in his tracks, like bird singing (e.g. "Easter Island", "Kaleidoscope" and "Madagascar"). The songs "Stealth" and "Blue Owl" were featured on the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

Midnight Club II ''Midnight Club II'' is a 2003 racing video game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sequel to '' Midnight Club: Street Racing'', published for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows and first in ser ...

''. Various remixes have appeared on the

SongBird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

and

Black Hole Recordings Black Hole Recordings is a Dutch record label founded by Tijs Verwest (Tiësto) and Arny Bink in 1997. In August 2009, Tiësto decided to leave Black Hole Recordings, setting up the record label Musical Freedom in association with PIAS Entertai ...

music labels. Berry's work is currently distributed through Platipus Music. Berry has described his style as deep trance, explaining his preference for "techno-based hypnotic progressive house with depth, and occasional psychedelic and melodic elements". He cites

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

Tomita is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese politician *, Japanese gymnast *, Japanese electronic music composer *, Japanese swimmer who participated in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome *, Japanese musician *Kishti ...

Orbital Orbital may refer to: Sciences Chemistry and physics * Atomic orbital * Molecular orbital * Hybrid orbital Astronomy and space flight * Orbit ** Earth orbit Medicine and physiology * Orbit (anatomy), also known as the ''orbital bone'' * Orbitof ...

808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. Taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the "state of mind" the members shared, they released ...

Jean Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompan ...

Wendy Carlos Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos; November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer known for electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving to New Y ...

Juan Atkins Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. ''Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of the Belle ...

, Derrick May and

Jeff Mills Jeff Mills (born June 18, 1963, in Detroit, Michigan), also known as "the Wizard", is an American DJ, record producer, and composer. In the late 1980s Mills founded the techno collective Underground Resistance with fellow Detroit techno pro ...

as his musical influences.

Discography

Albums

*1996 ''Wildlife on One'' *1999 ''Voice of Earth'' *2009 ''Retrospective''

Singles

Remixes

References

External links

Facebook profile

Beatport profile
* Art of Trance bio at allmusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Simon Living people English trance musicians English remixers Musicians from Somerset 1970 births English techno musicians